Pennsylvania State Police say Anthony Heath, formerly of Easton, strangled his paramour Angela Steigerwalt in Allentown on Jan. 31. Steigerwalt, who was having an affair with Heath, had agreed to drive Heath to the Northampton County Courthouse on Feb. 13 and provide emotional support as he tried to gain joint custody of his children, police said.

During a conversation Jan. 31, however, Steigerwalt appeared to be changing her mind, police said. Heath told investigators he became infuriated and killed Steigerwalt with the electrical cord of a nearby television, police said.

But court records indicate that anger has been directed at his infant son as well. Amanda Johnson, the mother of Heath's two children, filed for protection from abuse against Heath in January 2012, according to court documents.

Johnson said she and Heath had argued after she returned from church because he believed she lied about where she had been. She walked into another room to eat dinner when she heard a loud slap and her then-1-year-old son began crying, according to court documents. She ran out and found Heath with the baby, who had a bright red mark on his face, but Heath denied striking the baby, according to court records.

Johnson said she soothed the baby, but Heath later took the infant into another room and closed the door when the baby began crying again, police said. She took the baby back and stayed with him until he fell asleep, according to court documents. She called police the next morning after finding bite marks on the baby's back and chest, and authorities noticed another bite mark on the boy's neck, according to court documents.

Heath wound up pleading guilty to simple assault and served a time-served sentence in Northampton County Prison for assaulting his son. The protection-from-abuse order has not been updated since January 2012 and remains in effect, but he and Johnson had another son in 2013, according to court documents.

According to the lawsuit Heath filed in January, Heath is seeking visitation rights with his sons. Johnson has agreed to let him visit the boys with a third party present, the suit claims, but she keeps breaking her word. Heath wrote the children should have both parents in their lives and that Johnson needs to end her "foolish behavior."

"Being a foster child, I don't want any child to go through what I went through," he wrote.

Police found Steigerwalt's burnt body Feb. 1 in Jim Thorpe. Heath was arrested in North Carolina the next day driving her 2010 Buick LaCrosse, police said. Surveillance footage shows Heath buying items from a Lower Macungie Township Wal-Mart using her credit card, police said; the receipt was found next to Steigerwalt's body.

Heath is charged with criminal homicide, theft and abuse of a corpse, among other charges. A judge at today's preliminary hearing bound charges over to Lehigh County Court.

The Feb. 13 custody hearing was postponed due to a foot of snow falling across the region. It was rescheduled for March 13, but his case file has not been updated as of this morning.